Bowman 2014 Top 100 Prospects Cubs

Bowman has been putting out a Top 100 Prospects insert set since 2010 and they continued with another edition in the 2014 set.

The Cubs landed five players on the list.  Even more impressive is that two of the top ten are Cubs.  If only you could transfer potential into victories!

Javier Baez starts off at #6.  He is currently in AAA but is off to a slow start. That has been his pattern, though, each time he has moved up a level.  Eventually he gets things figured out and then the hits start coming.

The #8 spot goes to Kris Bryant.  I talked about him yesterday...no reruns today.

C.J. Edwards is the next Cub to make an appearance, at #21.  Edwards had some shoulder problems in April and there was a fear that he would have to be shut down or under go surgery.  Luckily the problem was just shoulder fatigue.  The plan is to let him rest for a few weeks and then gradually work him back.

Up next is Jorge Soler, checking in at #41.  Soler's been dealing with a bad hamstring and has only played in five games for AA Tennessee.  He should be back in the lineup soon.

#43 is Albert Almora.  The outfielder is off to a very slow start with High A Daytona, hitting only .235 in his first 30 games.  He was near or over .300 at every other stop so far, so hopefully this is just a minor blip.

The final Cub is Dan Vogelbach, who just squeaked his way onto the list at #98.  The future John Kruk is struggling in Daytona like Albert Almora.  Big Dan is hitting only .240 with just two homers.  A guy his size needs to show more power.

Bowman 2014 Cubs Prospects

The Cubs managed to land five prospects on the 110 player checklist.  The most prominent of Kris Bryant.  He's been really good since being drafted by the Cubs in the first round last year.  In fact, his presence in the set boosted the price of a Cubs team set a bit.

Each card comes with a regular and chrome version.  The regular is on the left, the chrome on the right.

 

I have the cards in alphabetical order so Kris Bryant is first.  He'd also be first if I listed them by potential.  The Cubs took Bryant with the second overall pick in the 2013 draft.  He is in AA Tennessee on the fast track to Wrigley Field.  So far this year he's done pretty well.  His average is .331 in 36 games and he's already hit 10 homers and knocked in 29 runs.  I wouldn't be surprised to see him at Wrigley Field some time this season.

 

This is The Great One, Jr.  Except he's not really that great.  The Cubs took him in the 7th round of the 2012 draft and he started his slow climb up the chain.  He did OK in rookie ball, hitting .304, but since then he's been a .250 hitter.  In March of this year, the Cubs traded Gretzky to the Angels for Matt Scioscia, the son of Angels manager Mike Scioscia.  It was a big name trade, except the big names were the players' dads.

 

Pierce Johnson was a first round (43rd pick) choice of the Cubs in the 2012 draft.  He did well last year in A and High A, going a combined 11-6 with an ERA of 2.74.  Even better were in 124 strikeouts and only 43 walks.  Right now he is in AA Tennessee, where he has a 1-1 record in four starts.

 

The Cubs signed the Cuban Rivero as a free agent last spring.  He's already 25, so the clock is ticking for him.  He's with AA Tennesse right now, working out of the bullpen.  In 13 appearances, he's got a 1-0 record with 27 Ks and 8 walks over 18.2 innings.  He's also picked up seven saves.  The Cubs future closer?

 

Underwood is the youngest of the five prospects, only 19 (turning 20 in July). The Cubs picked him in the second round of the 2012 draft.  He is with Low A Kane County right now, a starter in their rotation.  In five starts,  he's yet to have a decision, but his ERA is only 2.91.  He'll fit right in with Jeff Samardzija.

2014 Bowman Cubs

2014 Bowman has been out for a couple weeks now and I've got my Cubs set in hand.  The parameters of the set have been the same for several years -- 220 base cards, 110 prospects and the prospects have both regular and chrome cards.

Since I am not a prospector, Bowman has never really excited me. But then again, where else but Bowman can you get cards of players that you never heard of and probably never will.

For the third year in a row, the cards have white borders.  This comes after a nearly 15 year run that saw black as a primary Bowman color.  It also looks like the pictures were doctored a bit to make them look more 3D-like.  It seems as if a border was added around each of the players.

The Cubs snagged three spots on the 220 card base set and five more among the 110 prospects.

The three base cards are the usuals for the Cubs lately, Castro, Rizzo, and Samardzija.  Look at the pictures.  Doesn't it look like a grey border was added around the players' bodies?  It is especially visible on Samardzija's card--look at his left leg.

Tomorrow I'll have the five Cubs prospects that made the set.  I'll take a look at the cards and also at how these future Cubs are doing so far this season.

Five Random Cubs Cards

I've got 12,342 Cubs cards from 88 different brands listed on a spreadsheet. A random number generator picked five cards, one each from the past several decades.

1900s - 1970s: 1960 Fleer #43 Paul Derringer This card is one of those "should I or shouldn't I" cards.  The 1960 Fleer set doesn't list teams, so when I put my set together I used the checklist from Teamsets4U.  The hat does have a C on it, but it looks more like he's wearing a Cincinnati Reds uniform.  Derringer spent time with both teams, but far more time was spent with the Reds.  Should I keep it with the rest of my Cubs or not. For now, as long as I have the card, I'm keeping it.

1980s: 1988 Team Issued #17 Mark Grace The Cubs gave this set of cards away at Wrigley Field on Wednesday, August 24.  They beat the Astros that day 3-2 and Grace went 1-4.  The 1988 season was Grace's rookie year, so this card would have been one of, if not the, first card of Grace as a major leaguer.

1990s: 1995 Starting Lineup Sammy Sosa The card shows Sammy taking a swing in 1994.  He still looks like the skinny pre-juice Sammy.

2000s: 2003 Topps Traded #39 Paul Bako  The Cubs picked up Bako in an off-season trade with the Brewers prior to the 2003 season.  He spent the year as a back-up to Damian Miller and played in 70 games.  He was the typical good-glove no-hit backup catcher.

2010s: 2011 Topps Limited Edition #481 Randy Wells This card comes from the Limited Edition Factory Set, which was only available via the Diamond Giveaway gimmick Topps had going in 2011.  The card has a special logo in the upper left corner and some special writing above the name.  An arm injury cost Wells two months of the season.  He went 7-6 with a 4.99 ERA.

Double Beef

Thanks to Panini, I was able to get a double helping of some Beef Welington.

This is from Panini's 2012 National Treasures Signature Materials insert set.  I got both a jersey piece and an autograph in one convenient but logoless card.  Topps hasn't put out any certified autos of the Cubs catcher, so I settled for Panini's version.

The best part?  The card set me back a whole dollar and four pennies.  With that, I can cross Welington Castillo off of both my autograph and relic checklist.

All the Billy Autos

Unless I see a really nice looking one, I think I'm done with my Billy autograph collection for a while.  I'm up to 22 different signatures.

After typing that last line, I had a different thought.  Maybe I should add four more.  That would give 26 autographs of #26.

The last time I had a Billy auto tile, Once a Cub Matt commented that all but one of the cards had a unique photograph.  All of my more recent additions also feature different photographs, so that makes 21 pictures on 22 cards.  In the era of overused photographs, I'm amazed that I could pull that off.  If I do add four more, I'll make sure that they too have unique photos on the cards.

Enjoy 22 signed Billys.

2014 Cubs Scorecard

My scorecard collection has grown by one as I have added a card from this season.

The card is from the Cincinnati series April 18-20. You can see that the Cubs were celebrating the 1910's during this home stand and the players on the card are from the late -teens.

My guess is that the cover is going to change every home stand as the Cubs celebrate another decade.  That's going to make a lot of different covers, far more than when it was just one per season.  I'm half tempted to get one of each, since this is a special season.

Tempted, but not really....too much money.  I may just go with a virtual collection of these and snag some pictures off of Ebay.

As it is, with this card my collection now has 62 cards...1949, 1953-1954, and 1956 - present.

Behold!!